The Best Places to Eat in Denver, by the Record
-
-
-
-
- 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Restaurant for a First Date · Best of Denver
-
-
-
Rank 405. Bakery Four
Bakery
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Punch The Who’s Who of Beer Cool
- Westword 2023 · Best Beer Service · Best of Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
-
- Westword 2024 · Best New Restaurant in a Convenience Store · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Banh Mi · Best of Denver
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 405. Fellow Traveler
Cocktail Bar
The house-made Málört alone tells you something about this place's priorities. Fellow Traveler is a vegan cocktail bar on South Broadway where the drinks menu runs from Chinese baijiu to Hungarian digestifs, and the food manages to be plant-based without announcing it every five minutes. The "Strange Cargo" spirits list rewards the curious, and Westword has called it Denver's top vegan restaurant more than once.
- Westword 2023 · Best Vegan Restaurant · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best You’d-Never-Know-It’s-Vegan Restaurant · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Rotating Weekly Margarita · Best of Denver
-
- Westword 2024 · Best Coffee Shop for Conversations · Best of Denver
- 5280 Best for Catching Multiple Buzzes · The 23 Best Bars in Denver
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Punch Best New Bartenders · Mak Kelly
- Westword 2024 · Best Bar for Girls’ Night · Best of Denver
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
-
- Westword 2024 · Best Bar to Visit Alone · Best of Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2023 · Best Dive Bar With a View · Best of Denver
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 405. Right Cream
Dessert
Every mix-in at this Denver ice cream shop is made from scratch, which explains why the flavors change weekly and why people follow the Instagram just to see what's coming next. The team builds their own base, loads the pints accordingly, and sells them for pickup alongside draft beer, which is either a genius pairing or an obvious one depending on how you feel about it. A Westword Best Ice Cream pick two years running.
- Westword 2023 · Best Ice Cream/Gelato Shop · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Savory Food at an Ice Cream Shop · Best of Denver
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Talnua bills itself as America's first single pot still whiskey distillery, a style the founders fell for on their honeymoon in Ireland and then brought back to an industrial suite in Arvada. The taproom leans hard into the Old Fashioned as a format, then uses it to do things like peanut-butter-and-plantain whiskey or wasabi-popcorn gin. Whether that sounds like fun or chaos probably tells you everything you need to know about yourself.
- Westword 2023 · Best Distillery Taproom · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Distillery to Visit If You Have a Shamrock Tattoo · Best of Denver
-
-
Rank 405. The Electric Cure
Tiki Cocktail Bar
- Westword 2024 · Best Satanic Gay Tiki Bar · Best of Denver
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
-
-
-
-
-
- Westword 2024 · Best Bar on a Snowy Night · Best of Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2023 · Best Bar/Restaurant for a First Date · Best of Denver
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 490. Dough Counter
Sicilian/NY-Style Pizza
-
- Esquire The Best Bars in America
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
-
-
Rank 492. Bodega
American
The bacon, egg, and cheese on a Kaiser roll has its own following at this Sunnyside daytime spot, a casual counter-service cafe where breakfast and lunch overlap in the best low-maintenance way. Burritos, rotating sandwiches, and a burger that regulars treat as non-negotiable fill out the menu. The kind of place where the line out front is just part of the deal.
- Westword 2023 · Best Breakfast · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Place to Escape for a Midday Meal · Best of Denver
-
Cannonball Creek doesn't distribute cans, so if you want these hop-forward IPAs and crisp lagers, you're making the drive to Golden. It's a taproom with rotating food trucks and an easy outdoor vibe that pairs well with whatever trail or climb you just finished. The range stretches from pilsners to saisons to Belgian golden ale, which gives non-IPA people something to do. Westword named it Best Brewery in 2023.
-
Rank 492. CODA Brewing Co.
Beer Bar
-
The turquoise mountain mural running behind the bar sets the tone at this east Denver brewery taproom: a little outdoorsy, a little groovy, comfortable enough to settle in for several rounds. A dozen or so rotating taps cover the range, with porters and Munich dunkels among the regulars. Food trucks pull up outside when hunger strikes. The bar stools have backs, which sounds minor until you've spent an afternoon somewhere they don't.
-
Rank 492. Happy Camper Pizza
Pizza Cocktail Bar
Slice shop meets cocktail bar on a busy North Denver corner, loud enough that whatever conversation you're having will stay between you and the ceiling. Happy Camper runs casual and crowded, the kind of place where the noise does you a favor. The menu leans big, sloppy pizza and stiff drinks, and the room fills fast most nights, which suits the regulars just fine.
-
Rank 492. Hits The Spot Diner
American
The self-proclaimed home of "the fastest egg in the West" is a classic American diner on Colfax that holds the line while Denver's old-school spots keep disappearing. Cinnamon roll French toast and a six-pound breakfast burrito smothered in green chile are the kinds of details that explain why regulars don't bother with the menu. The green chile is gluten-free, which the burrito's sheer scale makes feel almost responsible.
-
-
A door off the alley and a staircase down puts you in a basement sports bar that feels like a secret the Wash Park neighborhood has been quietly keeping. Screens everywhere, local taps, and a kitchen that stays focused no matter how loud the room gets. A Westword Best Sports Bar pick, and the kind of place where losing doesn't sting quite as much when the food and drink tabs are this manageable.